Day 6: Recording the Tugen & back to Nairobi Story
…er side. The second car bites the dust From Karabaret, we travelled to Nakuru and then half of us travelled on in the pitch black to Nairobi. The Nakuru crew, in the white van, was stopped cold by a broken alternator belt. The other car was able to flag down a matatu (small van public transport that fill the roads everywhere) and head back. We agreed to take off the belt altogether and get them to Nakuru before dark (with no power they had no ligh…
Day 5: Recording the Marakwet Story
…by amazing runners. But there is also a mystique to the place and foreign runners feel like some of the magic might rub off on them.” Because the Olympics were approaching the place was filled with runners and documentary makers, all telling the story of this beautiful place. In fact, we were confused for a CNN crew! You can read more about Iten and its famous athletes here: Running with the Kenyans From Iten there is a beautiful tarmac road that…
Day 4: the Pokot Tribes Story
…Kalomoywa We recorded 8 songs with them and a magic moment of wonderful chorus. The songs were: Kinyakar, Kamatakar, Chepo Nandi, Kamitoi, Kaperwo, Chemining Tie, Chepo Chepkai, Kimnakiy Mitinge, Kisech. Click here to go to Song Translations Everything Else Everything else from today can be divided into three key events. First, we survived the drive. There were a few scary moments, the first being driving to the village for the shoot – straight up…
Day 3 continued – an interview with Steve Kivutia Story
…lls in Kisumu, Lake Victoria) were amazing and more modern than most music today. The Clapperboard Today was the first day we used the ‘clapperboard’. First a little background to this…… Singing Wells has always been about the music so our initial focus was on audio recording. We invested in first class audio equipment and can record using 8 mics directly into Pro Tools. But during the March Pilot programme, we realised that the visual experience…
Day 3: Kitale to Kapsokwony, Kenya Story
…to a new level. 50 Cows is a local journalist and student at United States International University (USIU). The Music Groups Ben Kisinja First up for recording was Ben Kisinja, a wonderful guitarist in the typical Kalenjin style. Tabu describes this style as very traditional and the way of singing is very unique to the Sabaot clan of the Kalenjin. The guitar is called a burkandit, and is a homemade guitar somewhat resembling the Nyatiti of the Luo…
Singing Wells – Origins News
…nspiration for the name comes from the real-life singing wells of the Samburu tribes people. During the dry season, Samburu herdsmen (and boys) draw much needed water for their cattle from deep wells which they have dug in the parched river bed. As they pull water from these wells they begin to sing, a different song emanating from each well. The animals appear from the bush, seeming to recognize the unique song of their master. Once the animals h…
Day 2: Nairobi to Kitale & an interview with Pato Story
…ey talks and the whole crew were there by 09.00. Everyone. That‘s the good news. The bad news was no one brought a key for the studio, forcing Tabu to have to drive home and back. We left an hour later. Drive good, but long (roughly 400 kms) with a few little thunder storms and the normal fun with roadworks and trucks. Nice chicken grill in Nakuru for lunch with full team. Fun fact, Nakuru is the birthplace of Nakumatt, the most successful retail…
Andy’s cover of Boys of Summer News
…he project or producing music for various clients he actually finds time to write and record his own material and is also a member of Abubilla Music’s house band, The Saturday Morning Canasta Club. You can listen to more of Andy ‘s music online at his website: click here but before you go over there have a listen to his brilliant cover version of Don Henley’s Boys of Summer, recorded this summer at the Abubilla Music studio in Spain. You can fol…
How to Map 2: The Map Outline News
…as. This is known as spatial data. Downloading the outline There is a free online source for spatial data at http://www.diva-gis.org/. To get your spatial data you click on Free Spatial Data in the top-right corner. On the Free Spatial Data page click on country level data. On the Download Data by Country page, select the country you need and make sure the Subject is Administrative areas. There is other data available for free download from this p…
Victoria’s reflections on the music of the Batwa Story
…the end of the day I will have been in four different countries – Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. I am already struggling to believe that I am in East Africa when 24 hours ago I was in South West London and this makes me want to pinch myself even harder to make me realize it’s actually me here, doing this. We arrive in Kigali and we are all immediately struck by the airport – it’s calm, quiet and clean. There are no delays at immigration. It’s…
Return of the Batwa @ Ketebul Music Studios Story
…whole group insisted that we could not even consider recording the Batwa in Nairobi unless he was included. Gasoda Yohanadj Mbirikimu Mbarushimana – “Challenger” The magic bass player (beat boxes into a pot) with Tiny Moses. Great backing vocals as well. Mbirikimu Mbarushimana Gaudancia (and baby Stella) A wonderful singer from the group ‘Togetherness’ who we recorded in the empty (good news) refugee camp outside of Kisoro. She sang with each of…
Day 3: Homa Bay and the Kochia Dancers Story
…under the bar and the dancers ready to do their stuff… The Kochia Dancers Today is all about dances, so our videos will be much better than still photographs. Let us introduce you to the dancers; here in full glory are the Kochia Dancers who dance in the Ramogi style of dance (ref: for a great article on the Ramogi dance of the Luo, by Helen Odwar, click here): https://youtu.be/_qVuMFLJ9-M https://youtu.be/pwVlHnpw8Io https://youtu.be/B_M_OFRzDoU…
Day 2: Focus on the Nyatiti, Orutu and DRUMS! Story
…: https://youtu.be/2FOs3TObydk What you need to know as you listen is the drummer was drumming without a chair, doing deep squats and jumping about a foot off the ground with each ‘kick’ – this went on for four minutes. Try it for 10 seconds. Then he then would jump over the drums at key moments or jump in deep squats around the drums, and c) twice he did major spins, hitting drum, spinning and hitting again on time. The reason you hear it ‘fizzle…
Day 1: The music of the Luo – starting at Rang’ala Village Story
…s sounds of the Nytati to form something more bluesy; it morphs later into Rumba, which combines Benga and also Congolese music which is in turn heavily influenced by Cuban music. The big guy in Luo Benga was Daniel Owino Misiani who developed the style in the 60’s. A big reason to return to Luo-lands is to trace back to the origins of Benga, understanding in more detail the core instruments. Here, we almost start at the end, recording Osumba Rate…
Christine Kamau – “The Jazzist” News
A message of support from Afro-Jazz trumpeter and composer, Christine Kamau….. Hello Victoria! Thanks for getting in touch! I have checked out you project…it’s great that you are dedicated to keeping indigenous music alive..#very best wishes and I hope we can keep in touch. Christine BBC Africa Beats: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17831507 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thejazzist Reverbnation: https://www.reverbnation.com…
The Batwa Trail News
…d community. About the Batwa Trail ‘The dense forests at the foot of the Virunga Volcanoes were home to the Batwa people: hunter-gatherers and fierce warriors who depended on the forest for shelter, food and medicine thanks to ancient knowledge passed down for generations. When Mgahinga Gorilla National Park was established, the Batwa, a group of indigenous people, were suddenly evicted from the forest and forced to abandon their low-impact, nomad…